KILLERS FROM SPACE opens w/ a literal bang, as an atom bomb test results in the requisite mushroom cloud. Dr. Doug Martin (Peter Graves- IT CONQUERED THE WORLD, BEGINNING OF THE END) is along for the ride in one of the aircraft. Oh dear! Something goes haywire, and down they go! The wreckage is located, but where's Dr. Martin? His wife is worried sick! Some time later, Martin simply walks onto his base, w/ no visible signs of injury, save for one mysterious scar! Paul begins seeing visions of floating eyeballs! After a confusing time, including involvement by the FBI, Martin starts to recall what happened to him, thanks to a jolt of truth serum. He tells a story about his having been abducted by a group of pop-eyed aliens. No, honestly, these guys all have cookie monster's spare peepers! They also wear the Phantom's extra outfits... and mittens! They're up to no good, planning an invasion! There are even some "giant", superimposed lizards and bugs running around, apparently filmed at the local zoo's reptile and insect exhibits. Will anyone believe Paul, before it's too late? The problem w/ this movie is that it's an alien invasion movie without an invasion, or any real action of any kind. It just sort of drags along, grinding to a halt whenever something remotely interesting seems to be about to occur! A true rubber mallet to the forehead! A pain lover's dream! Co-stars schlock regular, Frank Gerstle (THE ATOMIC BRAIN, THE WASP WOMAN) as Dr.Curt Kruger...

If you like old, bad sci fi movies like me then this is a very enjoyable "classic" from that genre. It has it all, bad actors giving really stupid dialog, giant insects and reptiles, aliens with a plot to take over the earth, stupid actions by stupid characters, flying machines. What more could you ask for? Best watched with a big bowl of popcorn and friends to share all the laughs with.

I know this is a very bad movie, but there is one thing i like about. It has almost all the elements of what would become the "classic" alien abduction account. This predates the Boas event by 4 years and predates the more famous Betty and Barney Hill abduction account by 7 years. :Spoilers:The movie starts with stock footage of an atomic bomb test. We see Peter grave fly around it to examine the effects. He sees a bright light on the ground and crashes. later he is found and does not remember anything that happened to him. Later he tells people about how he survived the jet crash. He was saved by an alien race who try to invade the earth with giant bugs, reptiles, and insects. In the end they are blown up by Peter. However he was shown that there are still billions of them in space stations and saucers in space waiting for earth to be ready. But for some reason no one saw that the aliens might have a plan B.I say just skip this one.

This film is wonderfully cheap, awkward, and earnest. The director has a few successful scenes where a creepy mood is achieved, and there is a kind of plausibility throughout if one is able to accept the concept of an entire universe contained on studio back lots with virtually no money. I don't know why, but the scifi and horror films of this cheap, primitive, paranoid era were more fun than those made nowadays.Besides its innate aesthetic value, this film is notable for an early featured role for the great Peter Graves, who died about a month prior to me writing this review. Mr. Graves' performance here is certainly not Oscar-worthy, but if one imagines the circumstances under which this film was undoubtedly made, he acquits himself well.Another noteworthy thing: this film features a storyline in which alien space travelers abduct a USAF pilot and perform mysterious and creepy surgery on him, leaving him with a strange scar and the gap in his memory that ufologists call 'missing time.' Missing time and secret alien medical procedures have become a cliché of modern UFO mythology, but this is the earliest film I have seen to feature these concepts.The aliens are bug-eyed creatures who dress in outfits of uncanny similarity to the costume worn by 1930's newspaper comic strip hero 'The Phantom.' Their base of operations is a typical low-budget movie cave of the type favored by the villains in Republic chapter-plays, and their equipment looks mostly like various disemboweled floor-model radios and old DuMont TV sets. Despite the limitations, the scenes containing these elements are the most effective in the film.Lovers of old-school, low-budget scifi and horror will likely enjoy this film, although perhaps not to the degree I did. Nonetheless, it is certainly worth a look if are the right type of aficionado.